Just a Jellyfish, trying to get by

[Jellyfishfish]

Hey.

 

I'm Jelly, a 24 year old German person who's been living in the UK for the last seven-odd years. I've recently completed a Media Studies degree (recently, as in Tuesday) and am now in that odd inbetween-y place that temporarily grants me buckets of freetime to finally sort myself out a bit until I've found a place to stay/someone willing to give me money in exchange for labour power. Not that I intend to fall back into bad habits once I'm a bit more secure, but we'll tackle maintainance once we get there.

 

So, I've been pretty fat all my life, and am perfectly aware that it's mainly due to a horrendous diet, which isn't helped by my family's love for processed crap. Round about this time last year I staged a semi-hostile takeover of the kitchen at home and have started cooking fresh food every day, as healthily as I've been allowed to. I'm currently financially dependant on the people I'm also cooking for, meaning I've got to cater for two carb fanatics and a guy who basically refuses to eat vegetables of any kind,and all of this on a very small budget. There was some shouting, not gonna lie.

 

However, even just working with the resources I've got has been pretty effective so far. I don't own a pair of scales, but since I started cooking last year I've gone down from a UK size almost-24 (US size 20, the internet tells me), to a 18, pushing 16atm (14/12). And that was without exercise and during a damn stressful time of my life, which featured quite a bit of chocolate (University! *shakes fist*).

 

Now that I'm done with dissertations and all that, I'm going to get a lot more serious about eating well (or as well as I can, until I can support myself), and am planning to start on some bodyweight workouts (sadly no gym access around here). Mainly for health reasons, as I've got a quite bad back, and my family has a long history of heart disease and cancers. My granddad had his first heart attack when he was 26, and I'd prefer not to join him.

 

The immediate goal is to get to UK size 14/16 (US 10/12, I believe) by September. No real reason, just have a larp event coming up around there as the next big thing in my calendar, and it'd be damn nice. I just want to be healthy, damn it.

 

As far as geekery goes, I'm quite the all-rounder. Larp, as I mentioned, is a thing I'm really trying to get into more now (if there's any UK-based LRP-ers or Freeform players around: Hi! I've been stuggling to find local stuff that really works for me so far :/). Otherwise, I like classic lit (Les Miserables!) and fantasy (Discworld!), and am absolutely planning to spend some of my newly won free-time catching up on Video Games.

 

So yes. Hi, people, hi. I'm looking forward to joining the next 6 week challenge.

[Basement Cat]

Welcome to the rebellion, Jellyfish!

 

It sucks that your family is not supportive or interested in eating healthy. How open is your family to budgeting? If they don't want to eat healthy, that's their problem, but you shouldn't be forced to do the same. Ask them to give you a (fair) share of the food budget so you can buy and cook your own food while they can still enjoy their stuff. Fresh food is usually cheaper than processed stuff, so you should be fine.

 

If that doesn't work, put your foot down and tell the people in the house that you are taking over the grocery shopping and cooking, and that they have 2 choices: take it or leave it (or: eat it or wear it ). Unless you think they might get physically violent or throw you out over this...

 

Other than that, it really seems that you need to find a job and your own living space ASAP. Good luck! I don't know how the job market is in the UK right now. Keep us posted!

[Achillessehne]

Hi Jelly!

You definitely need your own place and I'm already looking forward to your first six week challenge.

Until you find some LRP-groups in the UK you are more than welcome to join me in Austria whenever you wish to.

Let's get into the best shape and health we can and play some amazons!

[Jellyfishfish]

Thanks Basement Cat! :3

 

They're not quite that bad, thankfully, but yeah, I'll be much happier when I'll have my own space and food budget. Until then I'm planning to be a horrible salad/protein tyrant over the summer. It'll be too hot to eat really heavy things, anyway.

 

Also, hi Person who introduced me to Nerd Fitness considering your own fantastic progress, I'll be putting in a lot of work to make our Amazons extra awesome.

[Carly Rae Jepsens Warlock]

Yoooooo! Video gamers unite! *dragonballzdanceofmorphytude*

Just kidding! Hey! Welcome aboard, fellow human!

That intro doe, I mean, wow. But, seriously, massive high five! You took control of your life and took it by the reigns! So cool sauce!

(Also, nerd-to-nerd: you got any site in mind where I could read free comic books?)

iMessage brought to you by, "the brain". In association with my, "bulbous yet nimble fingers".

[Jellyfishfish]

Hah, thank you! *highfive!*

 

Unless you also like manga I sadly don't know any sites at the top of my head. :/

Got a few webcomics to recommend, though! Do you know AwkwardZombie and Manly Guys Doing Manly Things? I also hear Bilndsprings is pretty good.

[Carly Rae Jepsens Warlock]

I do not like manga

Dang it! Internet! Don't fail me NOWW

iMessage brought to you by, "the brain". In association with my, "bulbous yet nimble fingers".

[Basement Cat]

Speaking of Webcomics, are you guys familiar with Girl Genius?

[Jellyfishfish]

Not as such, but the name rings several bells. I think I might have seen this on a few rec' lists before. Saved it for now, and will be sure to check it out this time.

[ValdisMori]

-Floats into the topic at the mention of Girl Genius- This is actually the first time I've posted in these forums and I'm a total noob.

But Girl Genius! <3 Also, do you any of you have any advice on how to eat healthy on a budget? I'm heading to college soon and I fear the "freshman 15" overtaking me as I get used to living on a more restricted budget.

(P.S. Do you guys read Romantically Apocalyptic? Or The Less than Epic Adventures of TJ and Amal? Or even...Homestuck?)

[Jellyfishfish]

Ohh, I used to read TJ and Amal, but forgot to look for it again after re-instaling windows quite a while ago! So another thing to add to my catch-up list. As for homestuck, I tried and failed to get into it properly, although I really liked aspects of it. I just started reading it so late in the game that it seemed like an awful lot of efford to work my way through it. I am officially the laziest.

 

As for eating healthily on a budget: planning ahead is the best thing you can do. It sounds like a pain, but sit down and plan out all your meals for the week and get all you'll need in one big shopping trip (assuming you'll have fridge space, that is, otherwise get fresh produce as you need it/can, of course). We've been avoiding so much food waste since I've been doing it like this, and we also buy less random crap just because it's there.